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Rapture – Paroxysm of Hatred (2018)REVIEW

There are many metal bands named Rapture and this is the death/thrash metal band from Greece that put out a fantastic debut album in 2015 entitled ‘Crimes Against Humanity’. That debut album was a master class in death/thrash hierarchical education as it blasted out thrash-forward death metal tunes that only bands like Insanity and Massacra could ever pull off before them. I personally freaked the fuck out for the album because it not only evoked the guitar personality of ‘Death after Death’ but it also featured a cover of “Born Dead” off of Death‘s ‘Leprosy’ which is one of the first death metal tracks that really inspired me to pick up a guitar and figure out the rhythms and time changes. When they weren’t going full death metal, they were doing pure thrash with Dark Angel and Kreator influences, like so many others. Sure, Rapture wasn’t necessarily as good as their influences but it was the type of genre release that compounds interest and fandom by highlighting what made old school death/thrash adrenaline so vital.

Their second full-length ‘Paroxysm of Hatred’ cements Rapture as the best band playing this death/thrash style worldwide. They understand what makes the sub-genre exciting and use influence to drive creative variations of their masters historical works. It is a far more aggressive and detailed approach to riffing but the speed will appear dialed back with a more balanced production at first. They’re really channeling Dark Angel‘s ‘Time Does Not Heal’ and Demolition Hammer‘s classic ‘Tortured Existence’ through the ferocity of Massacra‘s debut with a professionalism that notches this up above the youthful energy of the first Rapture record. I have to stress the Demolition Hammer influence here, I don’t think you’ll hear more influence from that band anywhere else. Looking back at 2017 I don’t think I heard another band so capable of stringing classic thrash and death metal riffs together with such power and authority, this dynamism is a real talent and few modern bands are so capable.

There is an undeniable ringing purity to the power of death/thrash metal in it’s muscular aggression and adept technical ability played at incredible, but not unintelligible, speed. No other kind of music makes my blood boil up into my brain in the same way and I haven’t heard an album as extensive in it’s exploration of the death/thrash tension since maybe Ripper or Atomic Aggressor‘s latest a few years back but those pale quickly by comparison and bands like Mortem have dialed back their chaos and speed too much to compete. ‘Paroxysm of Hatred’ is 41 minutes of death/thrash done in good taste and without too heavy a reliance on the riffs of others. Their intensely channeled riffing and shift towards including more old school death metal makes for a blood curdling blast of unrivaled metal guitar expression.

Note: Check their YouTube page for a preview track. The album will be available for pre-order on Memento Mori soon, e-mail them!

3Comments

Very satisfied with this recommendation. One of the ones Ive enjoyed most so far in going through your Top 15 of January.

Since I saw you mention Insanity and Massacra I thought it would be interesting if you did something like an essential Death/Thrash list as a feature on the site. Have you ever considered something like that?